


Gift

by wastefulreverie



Series: PhannieMay Shots 2018 [15]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Blood Blossoms, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Post Reveal, Revelation, secret reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-10-01 00:05:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17233679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wastefulreverie/pseuds/wastefulreverie
Summary: After Danny's secret becomes public, he and Valerie have a chat.





	Gift

Everything was numb. Danny still couldn't register what had happened or where he was, but the scariest sensation was the tingling feeling of absolutely nothing. There was no temperature, no texture, no light.... Until slowly, everything started to come back to him. He could feel he was lying on something semi-comfortable and that the air around him was pleasurably cool, just how he liked it. He might've believed that he was in his own bedroom if it wasn't the sound of faint beeping somewhere to the left of his head.

That's right, wasn't it? A heart monitor. He was in the hospital. How had he gotten here, and what about his secret? Why was it taking longer for the memory of the past few days to return? He knew something had happened....

He needed to be more awake to remember, and he didn't want to wake up. He was comfortable as he was now, but as soon as he addressed the need to remember, his body forced him awake. And that was the end of his blissful comfort and ignorance.

The memories didn't come in a series of flashbacks or anything that melodramatic. It was like there was a switch in his brain that instantly just allowed him to recall the events of the previous few days.

There had been a new ghost that was particularly hard to beat. He was only just a cyclops, but his brute strength and unexpected agility were almost overwhelming, so it was near impossible to get him in the thermos. Danny had fought him several times over the week, sustaining a few minor injuries, but Danny still convinced himself that he just needed to learn the ghost's weakness and he could easily take him down. After all, he had learned to beat most of his effortless ghost battles by playing trial and error. However, Danny slipped up. When he fought the cyclops again, he had prepared for one opponent, not two. This time, the Red Huntress was there too, shooting at Danny while the cyclops tried to punch him hard enough to send him flying to the other side of town.

Danny was only able to hold up for so long while fighting both of them. He had managed to dodge a super-powered punch from the cyclops, only for Valerie to shoot him out of the sky, causing him to crash to the ground in a street full of people. Danny's memory was slightly hazy after the fall, but he continued to attempt to fight... until the cyclops had targeted a nearby group of elementary children instead... and Danny threw himself in the way. Valerie, prioritizing the civilians over her ghostly foe, put her attack on hold and decided to clear the children out of the way. Meanwhile, the cyclops had grabbed him and slammed him into the concrete... over and over and over again until suddenly he was human and everything was bleeding and the people on the street began to panic even more. He expected to pass out after that, but instead, the cyclops had used some sort of energy transference power to keep Danny awake a while longer and in conscious agony.

Danny had watched with horror as his parents had arrived on the scene with the news reporters, only for the cyclops to go in for the final blow, and threw him with full force in the Fenton GAV, instantly rendering him unconscious.

That was the last thing he remembered before waking up, and he realized with fear that his secret truly was... over. Everyone had seen him. Everyone now knew his true nature.

And rather than being concerned about the possible outcomes of being reduced to a government research specimen or being dissected by his own parents, all Danny could focus on was the fact that his secret had been exposed by a one-eyed freak and his vengeful ex-girlfriend. It was actually kind of funny, in a pathetic way, if that made sense.

He still wasn't prepared for his secret to be out to the world, and thinking about it too much would probably send him into a mental breakdown, but he was awake now. And all that was left was opening his eyes. This was his last moment of denial; the last moment he could convince himself that everything would be like it had been for the past year. His secret was in plain view now, and it was time for him to face his scary new reality.

With slow hesitation, Danny opened his eyes.

Nothing would be the same.

* * *

 His injuries were severe enough to keep him in the hospital for two weeks. And he hated every moment of it. He was sick of being stuck in bed, with the same skittish nurses and doctors who avoided talking about his freaky ghost biology as much as possible. He tried telling them that it was okay to talk to him about what they didn't understand, but they seemed too uncomfortable (or scared) to bring it up.

Not long after he had woken up, he had confronted his parents, with the support of his sister, Jazz. After a long discussion, his parents accepted him for the most part, however, everyone was still tense from all the secret keeping, and it would take some time to recover from Danny's betrayal of trust. He also made sure that they didn't still want to experiment on him, and they were horrified when he brought it up, so that was also a good sign.

His parents had honestly been the scariest obstacle, which oddly replenished his confidence in an unexpected way. Danny figured that if his ghost-hating family could accept him, it shouldn't be too hard for the general public to see that he wasn't some evil abomination of nature. Or, at least he hoped.

Sam and Tucker were there every day in the hospital, and after about the fifth day, he gave permission for people outside of his family to visit him. However, he made it clear that only people that he approved, would be able to see him, he didn't want to end up with a bunch of rabid fans or threatening haters. He also specified that he would only talk to reporters from Channel 7, because they were the only local channel that didn't regularly turn Phantom into a villain and promote negative gossip.

Danny was surprised that the first person that visited him outside of his family was actually Mr. Lancer. It was actually sort of comedic, because Danny couldn't remember a single instance where his English teacher had ever appeared more awkward. Yet, when Lancer entered Danny's hospital room the man was at a complete loss for words, but he still managed to get his point across. He actually _apologized_ to Danny, which was a lot more than Danny expected, because he had assumed that he would have to be the one to apologize to Mr. Lancer. Though, while Mr. Lancer didn't understand how Danny was the way he was, he understood what drove him to neglect school and respected him for sacrificing his reputation and grades for something beyond what he should be responsible. Actually, when Mr. Lancer promised that they would find a solution for Danny to balance both school and ghosts, that was when Danny started to suspect that maybe losing his secret was a good thing.

His next visitor, a day after Lancer's visit, was someone Danny had expected to see sooner or later, which he didn't know whether to dread or welcome.

Valerie peeked her head inside Danny's hospital door tentatively, clearly nervous, and almost jumped when Danny stared back at her. From her skittish behavior, Danny was still unable to discern whether she was about to angrily scream at him, or cry regretfully into his arms. Either reaction would've made sense, but instead, she regained her stature, and walked into the room with a neutral expression on her face.

“Hello, Danny,” she said normally. They both knew that she was acting right now, concealing her true emotions about the moment.

“Hey, Val,” he responded. He didn't know what to say, so he decided to play it simple. “You can sit down if you want,” he gestured to the chair next to his bed, “but I get it if you're more comfortable standing.”

She pursed her lips momentarily, before turning to sit in the chair in silence. He noticed that she was wearing an unfamiliar satchel around her shoulders, but didn't comment. He would let her speak next. Since he was unable to read her current impression of him, he was awfully afraid of saying the wrong thing to her.

“Are you like... dead?” she finally asked, in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.

Danny was taken by surprise at her bluntness, but didn't let it affect his answer. “Uh... no. Well, sort of. I'm just half-dead. My heart still beats, and I still breathe, but I have all the powers of a ghost.”

“And you've always been Phantom? Even when you destroyed my father's job?” she asked. It was an accusing question, but she said it perfectly calm. Her voice was devoid of any malice or resentment, but there was something unclear hidden behind her eyes that suggested otherwise.

“Well, I haven't always been Phantom, but Phantom has always been me, yes,” Danny nodded. “And I really didn't mean to get your dad fired! I was trying to capture that dog ghost, but when I had first started out ghost hunting, I didn't really know how to minimize damage control... so it really _was_ unintentional. I would never go out of my way to ruin someone's life, especially your life.”

“I guess... I can understand that,” Valerie resigned. “Everyone starts out messy. But you still have a lot of other mistakes to answer to. Not to mention, you've lied to everyone and _purposely_ messed with my emotions. But, I'm all ears, ghost-boy.”

Danny wasn't sure when she called him 'ghost-boy', if it was supposed to be a joking nickname, or an intentional insult. Valerie seemed cordial, but he from what he had gathered, Danny knew that this conversation was her way of determining on whether or not she forgave him or not. This would determine the future of their relationship as either friends, or foes. He had to do his best to tell the truth, but to also not paint himself in a negative light.

For the next half hour, Danny explained specific incidents, while Valerie questioned him. It was almost like he was on trial, and in a way, this was Valerie's court. She was the judge of whether or not he was innocent or guilty. He explained in more detail about his encounter with Cujo, their flour sack project, Pariah's invasion, and when Technus had eased them into dating.

By the end of the conversation, Valerie actually seemed accepting of him (both hims), which relieved Danny exponentially. They were actually laughing and making jokes... and all the tension had been sapped out of the air. And his heart swelled when she actually confirmed it.

“I still have some grudges,” she admitted, “but for the most part, you're forgiven, Danny.”

She opened her satchel, and rummaged around until she found a red Tupperware container. “I... uh, made you a gift,” she said. “They're brownies. I didn't know if I was going to give them to you, but I'm glad we've made up.”

“Wait,” Danny said, “ _really_?”

She nodded in confirmation.

“Oh my God,” he grinned, “you don't know what kind of food they've been feeding me here. Thank you _so_ much. This is a literal blessing, like... I need this. I haven't eaten anything solid since I've gotten here.”

She laughed, “Well, they're my special recipe, so I hope you enjoy them.”

When Valerie walked out of the hospital room, she stopped in the hallway and took out the second container out of her satchel. She had made two batches of brownies, and would've given him

one as a gift no matter what. One batch was normal, while the other contained bits of Blood Blossoms. Thankfully, Valerie had actually believed Danny's explanation, and felt like she had been a _little_ ridiculous when she had walked into the room earlier with the potential intent of giving him brownies laced with Blood Blossoms. But since she had found Danny innocent, she had given him the normal batch.

Still in the hallway, she opened the remaining container of brownies and decided to have one herself. She slowly bit into a brownie and almost spit it out when she realized that there was a noticeable lack of Blood Blossoms in the brownie she had just eaten. Her stomach spun dangerously when she finally came to the horrifying revelation that she had screwed up _majorly_.

She had given Danny the wrong batch of brownies.

 


End file.
